"The following observations, in addition to the red shift, confirm the picture of a universe expanding from a hot big bang: the cosmic background radiation, the relative abundance of hydrogen to helium in the universe (about 3/1) and the lack of heavy elements in far distant galaxies. The cosmic background radiation is like the embers of a burnt-out fire, the embers of the hot "Big Bang" spread evenly throughout the universe. The small irregularities in the cosmic background radiation indicate the fluctuations that grew into stars and then galaxies. The relative abundance of hydrogen to helium is consistent with models of element formation that took place at an early, high temperature stage of the universe. For far distant galaxies (10 billion years light distance, say), they are also at an early stage of development (remember, going in distance is also going back in time) and therefore heavy elements have not yet formed by the collapse of red giant stars."

"But if optical observations of the oldest stars and galaxies is analogous to "baby pictures" of the universe, then observing the cosmic background radiation is like looking at an ultrasound. However, the results of BICEP2 pull information out of that background radiation that is probably more analogous to a pregnancy test, revealing information about the very first infinitesimally tiny moments of creation when the universe was far less than one-trillionth of a second old."

METAMIA is a free database of analogy
and metaphor. Anyone can contribute or search.
The subject matter can be anything.
Science is popular, but poetry is encouraged.
The goal is to integrate our fluid muses with
the stark literalism of a relational database.
Metamia is like a girdle for your muses,
a cognitive girdle.